asked the Minister for the Environment the terms of a circular issued to local authorities in 1949 in connection with broken time affecting manual workers employed by county councils.
Written Answers. - County Council Manual Workers.
292.
The text of the circular which was issued on 27 January 1949, was as follows:
Road Workers—Broken Time
A Chara,
I am directed by the Minister for Local Government to state that representations have been made to him from time to time regarding the loss of wages sustained by road workers due to inclement weather. With a view to an examination of the general position, an enquiry was addressed to each county council asking for particulars of the prevailing practice in regard to payment for broken time. An analysis of the replies received indicates widely varying practice.
The Minister feels that it would be desirable to secure as much uniformity as possible in this matter without however interfering with the position in counties where reasonably satisfactory arrangements are already in force. Accordingly, he recommends that in any area in which equally or more advantageous conditions are not already in operation, the local authority should consider the advisability of making payment to the nearest half-day worked, that is, that payment be made for a half-day (morning or afternoon) irrespective of the actual time worked in the half-day, and that men reporting for work in the morning be paid for that half-day, even though weather conditions render work impossible. Where men are asked to report again after the normal luncheon interval, any who do so would be paid for the second half of the day even though the weather does not in fact improve sufficiently to enable work to be done.
It has also been represented to the Minister that road workers are frequently employed at considerable distances from their homes, even when work is available much nearer, and that this is a cause of grave hardship to the workers concerned during bad weather conditions. The Minister would like the matter to be examined with a view to removing, so far as possible, any grievance in this respect. He also desires that the question of providing proper shelters for workers in pits and quarries should be considered. In this connection it is stated that present arrangements are generally inadequate; in many cases the shelters provided being neither weather, nor vermin proof.
The Minister wishes that the terms of this circular letter be brought to the notice of the members of the County Council, and would be glad of a reply in due course indicating the action it is proposed to take on his recommendations.
Mise, le meas,
J. GARVIN.
293.
asked the Minister for the Environment if the broken time referred to in the Local Government circular of 1949 affecting manual workers employed by county councils is regarded as service days under section 2 of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1956.
The reckonability of service days and the making of a superannuation award in the case of local authority manual workers is a matter for each local authority in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government (Superannuation) Act, 1956. Where a person is aggrieved by failure or refusal of a local authority to grant an award or by the amount of an award granted, he has a right of appeal to me against the local authority decision. Accordingly, it would not be appropriate for me at this stage to give any general indications in this particular matter. However, I am having the matter examined to see if any clarification is required. If this is found to be necessary it can be considered in the context of a superannuation scheme as envisaged in the Local Government (Superannuation) Bill, 1979.